The Changing American Family by Natalie Angier

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Recommended: What has caused changes in the American family over the years

“Christmas must be crazy.” This is the traditional comment that I have received time and time again for my remarkably nontraditional family, which consists of five stepbrothers, one stepsister, two half-sisters, my little brother, my stepmother and father, my mother and her fiancee (with his own set of children!) as well as the legions of extended family and my host family in Ecuador, not including the numerous friends on campus and elsewhere who affectionately refer to me as 'Mom', 'Mother', or 'Momma', and who are considered practically family by this point. However, Christmas still goes quite smoothly, and I must ask: Is my rather large, rough family circle really that atypical of modern American society? The NYT issue of Science Times titled “The Changing American Family” by Natalie Angier asserts that our family structure is indeed changing, and we as Americans no longer subscribe to the traditional nuclear family modeled by shows such as Leave it to Beaver or the “blended” but still idealized model of The Brady Bunch. And, when we examine America's families, we find that the shift is happening not only from decade to decade, but constantly, especially with the passing of new laws and new understandings surrounding human rights and identities. First, we must examine the assertions of “The Changing American Family”. From a pure research angle, the NYT article uses several graphs (regarding marriage rates, divorce rates, birthrates, gay and lesbian couples raising children, and children with incarcerated parents) from different sources, including Pew Research Center, the U.S. Census Bureau, and a couple national bureaus for economic and marriage research as well as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The graphs ran... ... middle of paper ... ...b. 21 Feb. 2014. "About The Pew Charitable Trusts." About The Pew Charitable Trusts. Pew Charitable Trusts, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. Angier, Natalie. "The Changing American Family." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. Craig, William L. "A Christian Perspective on Homosexuality." Reasonable Faith. Reasonable Faith Translations, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. "Definition of Dyad." Sociology Definitions. Boundless, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. Delaney, Tim. "Pop Culture: An Overview." Philosophy Now. Philosophy Now, 2007. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. Morse, Jennifer R. "Marriage & Relationships." The Problem With Living Together. Focus On The Family, 2001. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. Smith, Emily E. "The Kardashians: Family Values, Hollywood Style." Acculturated: The Kardashians Family Values Hollywood Style Comments. Acculturated, 7 May 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.

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